Over Three Days, Metro Accommodates Record Ridership

On Inauguration Day, Metro carried more people than on any day in its 33-year history. Here's how it breaks down: 1,120,000 train trips, 423,000 Metrobus trips, and 1,721 MetroAccess paratransit rides. That's a total of 1,544,721. On Sunday and Monday, the agency set rail ridership records for those days. Metro had estimated that Inauguration Day operations would cost the agency at least $3.5 million. That number is likely to increase because Metro operated extra hours and added more trains on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The agency also allowed thousands of people to stream through open fare gates without paying to ease crowds.

A look at some of the other numbers:

Inaugural Metrorail ridership:

Jan. 18, the day of the welcoming ceremony and concert at the Lincoln Memorial: 616,324 rail trips. Previous Sunday ridership record: 540,945 trips set July 4, 1999.

Jan. 19, Martin Luther King Jr. holiday: 866,681 trips

Inauguration Day: 1,120,000 trips

Rail cars:

On Tuesday, Metro had more rail cars available for service than ever before: 1,044, and operated 974 during the busiest period that afternoon.

On a typical weekday, the rail system deploys about 830 rail cars.

Hours of Service:

Metrorail ran an unprecedented 17 hours of rush-hour service on Inauguration Day. In the 72 hours between Sunday and Tuesday, Metro ran 60 hours of rail service.